Amnesia
by sweetEpie994
Summary: Sonic thinks that he's beginning to feel something for Shadow, only to find his feelings aren't reciprocated, or so it seems. But, when Sonic gets hurt in battle and suffers from a case of amnesia, he forgets about certain people, including Shadow. How will Shadow feel about this? And how far will he go to help Sonic to remember him?
1. The First Emerald Search

**DISCLAIMER: **I DO NOT OWN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Hi, guys. It's been a while since I've updated or uploaded anything on here. And I've gotten quite a few reviews for my past stories, "_Gaining Back My Love_" and "_The Stepbrother_", stories that I'm definitely and without a doubt going to finish. Just pleeeease bear with me. I had gone through a little writer's block with _The Stepbrother_, but I'm currently in the process of writing a chapter at the moment, so you'll see one very soon. I just had another idea for a story that I wanted to write, so I thought I'd put it up while you were waiting for the others. Sorry if I'm boring you guys with these Sonadow stories; they're just my favorite couplings! Lol, but I'll think about working on some others, though. I really love Naruto, so I might start some fanfics about him, too. Anyway, thank you guys for all your support and your awesome reviews. I swear, I enjoy reading them, so keep 'em coming! Well, here's my new story, _Amnesia_, and I hope you guys like it, so far! **R&R&ENJOY!**

* * *

"Tails, can't this thing fly any faster? Egghead'll have the entire place leveled down if we keep moving at this rate!"

A young golden fox rolls his eyes at the impatience of his 'older brother'.

"It's moving as fast as it can, Sonic." Sonic, everyone's favorite blue hedgehog, was standing on the wing of the Tails' latest plane. As 'way past cool' as Sonic thought the plane was when he'd initially seen it, it just wasn't fast enough for Sonic's liking.

"But, Tails—"

"I'm sorry, Sonic! There's nothing I can do!" The twin-tailed fox moaned in an exasperated tone. "Sheesh!" He mumbled under his breath.

"Sonic, give the little guy a break." A deep voice stated. It was Knuckles. "We'll be there in plenty of time to kick Eggman's butt before it gets outta hand." He said from the inside of the plane.

Sonic sighed aloud. He knew that what Knuckles said was true, but he couldn't really care less. He liked it when things moved at _his_ speed, because the speed of others was often too slow for him.

"Whatever you say, knucklehead." The blue one mumbled while narrowing his eyes and looking off into the trees they were flying over.

"What was that, Sonic?" Knuckles threatened.

"Was I not clear?" Sonic glared impatiently.

"You know what, you little smartass? I outta— "

"Both of you shut up." Everyone looked over at the voice coming from the opposite wing that Sonic stood on. Shadow the hedgehog had earlier on accepted Sonic's invitation to thwart another one of Eggman's devious schemes. Having nothing better to do at the time, he agreed to follow. "You won't get _anywhere_ any faster by bickering at each other like two childish brats. Just shut up until we get there."

Shadow looked around to ensure that peace would indeed be established between the red echidna and the blue hedgehog. As he glanced over at Sonic, he noticed the blue hedgehog glaring at him, excessively. His emerald eyes seemed to be accusatory toward the onyx hedgehog. Shadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic to let the immature one know that he meant business. Sonic simply looked away in a huff.

"Tails!" A female voice called from somewhere on the plane's speakers.

"Hey, Sally. What's up?" Sally Acorn was one of the main brains of the operation, aside from Tails. She would formulate plans on how to foil whatever no-good idea Dr. Eggman was up to, and she would sometimes help Tails build machines that would benefit the gang in the long run.

"I got the radar for the plane working from here. The coordinates for the chaos emerald should appear on the screen, as well as any possible threats to it or to us. The green emerald we already have is also helping to locate the blue chaos emerald. You should be seeing something on your screen in a short moment."

No sooner had she said that did the radar turn on.

"Thanks a lot, Sally!" Tails said.

"No problem, Tails. You guys be careful!"

"Will do!" Tails said before the speaker shut off.

After speaking with Sally, a few minutes had passed before Sonic decided to open his mouth again. "Tails, how much longer, now?"

"Well, Sonic, the radar that Sally and I attached to the plane indicates that there's a chaos emerald about three minutes from here. It also shows that there's a weird metallic contraption a few paces north of it. I deduced that the contraption was some machine that Dr. Eggman is using to look for the emerald. The radar also shows that a lot of green is being destroyed; I guessed that the doctor is probably still hunting the emerald down somewhere in the forest area. By doing so— "

"So," Sonic interrupted. "How _long_ will it take to get there?"

" . . . Three minutes, Sonic." Tails replied, dryly.

"Three minutes, uh? Betcha I can run there and make it thirty seconds." Sonic smirked. "Later, guys." He saluted right before he made to free-fall off of the plane.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails called out.

"Idiot." Knuckles mumbled.

Shadow, with his arms crossed, closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'll follow him." He stated. Then, he too proceeded to free-fall from the plane after the younger one.

"I hope Sonic doesn't screw this up." Knuckles said to Tails.

"Me too, Knuckles." The fox sighed. "Me too."

* * *

Meanwhile, a blue blur was flying through the trees of the forest, courtesy of his incredible speed. The huge leaves, the branches, and trees themselves made the forest very thick and a little hard to see through. But, Sonic's speed propelled him through the obstacles with ease.

"Heh! I should've done this from the beginning." Sonic talked to himself. "It would've saved a hell of a lot of time."

Then, Sonic heard a gentle ruffling noise a little ways behind him. He screeched to a stop and brushed the dirt off of him before turning around to glance behind him.

'_What was that?'_ He thought. He looked around and saw nothing, so he shrugged to himself and continued his run toward the mad doctor. _'That crazy jet lag must be getting to me.'_

Right before reaching his previous speed, he heard the noise again. He knew that hearing the same ruffling noise a second time meant that he wasn't crazy and that he'd heard correctly. He came to another stop and turned around.

"Who's there?" He demanded. "Egghead? Is that you?" He called out. He took a couple of paces back from where he came from. The ruffling noise sounded like it was getting closer. Sonic stopped walking all together and pushed a few branches and leaves out of his way to hopefully get a better view. The noise got even closer. Sonic perked his ear and listened intently on what the noise might be.

'_Sounds like . . . it sounds like . . . footsteps?'_ He thought. _'Running footsteps?'_

Sonic pushed a few more leaves and branches out of his way to see who dared approach him so sneakily. He pushed one more branch out of his way before something, or someone, collided into him, causing him to hit the ground, hard. He instinctively brought a hand up to his head.

'_Ah! What the hell?'_

He tried to get up and move, but whatever collided with him was keeping him from doing so. And whatever it was, it was heavy. The blue hedgie opened his eyes to see what was pinning him so roughly into the ground. His vision was a little foggy from his head hitting the ground so hard, and he had to blink a few times before something came into view. Something black was on top of him. And it hadn't moved yet. Was it an enemy, he thought?

"Faker!"

Sonic knew that voice. He blinked a few more times before his vision cleared to see Shadow the hedgehog straddled on top of him. Sonic's cheeks suddenly became a little hot at the sight above him, and he didn't know why. There his onyx clone was, sitting over top of him and panting slightly from the running and the collision, with a little dirt on him from the fall. Shadow's ruby orbs were beaming down at Sonic in an exasperated expression that Sonic oddly found attractive. _'Wow.'_ He thought.

However, he was soon brought out of his trance.

"Why don't you watch where you're standing, you dumbass?" Shadow exclaimed clutched the side of his head.

Sonic blinked a few times again before replying. "Me? How was I supposed to know you were following me? Why don't _you_ watch where you're going!" He retorted before pushing Shadow off of him into the dirt. He stood himself up from the forest floor, turned his back to Shadow, and dusted himself off. "And for the record, I don't need a stiff like _you_ following me! I can handle myself." He proceeded to walk away from Shadow, until he was grabbed by the arm from behind and forced to the ground on his back. Shadow had pinned him down, again.

"You'll _get_ handled if you hold that tone with me, misemono."

"Get off of me, Shadow!"

"Make me, Sonic." Shadow replied coolly. The way Sonic's name rolled off of Shadow's tongue so easily sent tiny shivers throughout Sonic's body. The proximity in their situation wasn't exactly very helpful, either. Sonic's cheeks began to flare up all over again, this time producing a slight red hue along with it. It was embarrassing to say the least to have an ego as big as Sonic's crushed by the hands of his clone. And Sonic dared not struggle under the onyx one's grasp for fear of making matters worse.

"What's wrong, Faker? Why don't you push me off of you like you did a second ago?" Shadow taunted with a smirk.

"Shadow, I—." Sonic looked beyond Shadow when he heard more footsteps running toward them. Shadow turned around to see who was approaching, as well.

"Sonic?" Tails' voice questioned. He was a little puzzled to say the least at what he was seeing.

"What are you two doing on the ground?" Knuckles came from behind Tails and asked.

It was then that Sonic and Shadow realized their position on the ground and what it looked like. As Shadow made way to relieve Sonic, Sonic hurriedly pushed him off again, instead. Shadow glared over at Sonic. "I was teaching Faker here a very important lesson about how she should treat me." Shadow answered, to which Sonic stuck his tongue out, childishly.

"Guys, we don't have time for this. Eggman could be here any moment, and we've still gotta find the chaos emerald." The echidna reminded them.

"Well in that case, where should we look, little bud?" Sonic asked Tails.

"According to the radar, the emerald should be just a little bit north from where we're standing, now."

"Then, let's go!" Sonic ran off in the direction Tails had pointed out.

Shadow jumped in front of Sonic to prevent him from going any further. "Hold on, Faker. You can't just run wherever you see fit."

"And why can't I?"

"The forest could be booby-trapped, you idiot. Ever think of that?" Shadow challenged him.

Sonic just scoffed at him, cockily. "Shadow, the forest is _huge_. How could _anyone_ set a trap somewhere out here?" And with that, he pushed past the Ultimate Life Form, not knowing that he would step on an unseen sensor that would alert the enemy.

The group of four walked a little ways into the forest before the radar beeped. "Sonic!" Tails called out. "The radar says we're here."

Everyone looked around. "Well . . . where is it?" Sonic asked.

"Is something wrong with your tracker, fox?" Shadow questioned.

"No. Sally and I fixed it up this morning before we took off."

"Well, I don't see anything." Sonic spoke up.

"Maybe if you'd stop using your mouth to compensate for your eyes, you'd be able to see a little more." Shadow told Sonic.

"And what's your excuse, Oh Powerful and Mighty One? Huh? I don't see you finding anything either." Sonic faced Shadow and began to approach him.

"It's because all of _your _hot air is fogging up _my eyes_, Faker." Shadow walked closer to Sonic, too.

"You're such an asshole." Sonic spat.

"And you're an insolent child." Shadow fought back.

"Um, guys?" Tails had gotten between the two hedgehogs and spoke in a smallish voice.

They both looked at Tails, back at each other, and then stepped away.

"See what you've done? Now you've upset the fox." Shadow accused his look-alike.

"Me?" Sonic whined.

"For the love of Mobius," Knuckles mumbled. He dug his fists in the ground and proceeded to dig with his knuckles. He dug deeper and deeper until he created a small, but shallow hole in the ground. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails gathered around the hole to see what Knuckles was doing.

"Knuckles?" Sonic called out. "You okay in there?"

"Just fine." He echoed back before resurfacing with something blue and shiny in his hand. "And look what _I_ found." He smirked.

"Good going, Knux." Sonic grinned.

"Way to go, Knuckles!" Tails cheered. Shadow simply smirked. "Two down, five more to go!"

"Yeah, and if I don't have to fly on those plane wings for the entire search, maybe we'll find them before I'm fifty." Sonic added, as he and the others started to walk back to the plane.

Shadow rolled his eyes and followed behind the others, until he heard something weird that made him stop in his tracks.

Knuckles stopped when he didn't hear Shadow's footsteps walking behind him.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" Knuckles asked. But, Shadow remained still, quiet, and staring a little dazed at the ground. He looked as if he were trying to focus on something. By this time, the other two had caught on to the halt in the steps of Shadow and Knuckles.

"What's going on, guys?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Said Knuckles. "Shadow, why did you . . ." It was Knuckles' turn to stop and listen.

"Not you, too, Knuckles." Sonic said.

"Shh! Listen," he said. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Knux, if I didn't know any better, I'd think _you're_ the one that hopped out of Tails' plane and landed on your head."

"Hush, Faker!" Shadow shushed him. "It's getting louder."

"I hear it, too!" Tails piped up.

Sonic crossed his arms. "Well, maybe I'm the only sane one, because I don't hear a . . ." Suddenly, Sonic was quiet. He heard the noise that the others were talking about. The noise seemed like a few different things. One of the noises sounded just like the running footsteps that Sonic had previously heard when Shadow was following behind him, only it sounded like the footsteps belonged to more than one individual. But, the other noise was strange; it sounded something akin to metal scraping against metal. And the noises were coming from behind them.

**CLANK** * **CLANK * CLANK * CLANK **

Everyone looked back with mouths agape in wonder of what the strange sounds could possibly be.

"What _is_ that?" Shadow asked.

"Sounds like it's getting closer." Sonic said as the noises got louder and louder, seeming to approach the group.

**CLANKCLANK * CLANKCLANK * CLANKCLANK * CLANKCLANK **

The noises got louder and louder until Shadow decided that whatever the noise was didn't sound friendly at all.

Out of nowhere, a huge machine appeared from out of the forest leaves and trees and sprang into the air. The contraption was metallic with the form almost like that of a human body; it held the similarities of legs, arms, fists, and a torso, and it was a good enough size to chop down the trees in the forest. However, the gang didn't have time to marvel at the dangerous-looking device. They each caught a quick glimpse of it before realizing they were in trouble.

As the machine soared through the air, it seemed to target one person in particular: Sonic the hedgehog.

Shadow saw this immediately, and he saw that Sonic, who was still staring agape at the machine, was strangely a little slow on the uptake.

"Sonic! Move!" Shadow called, and he dove on Sonic, pushing the both of them out of the way right before the machine landed on the both of them.

Sonic was in pain, but he wasn't in as much pain as he would have been had Shadow left him standing where he initially was. He clutched at his head for the second time that day before realizing that Shadow was on top of him, glaring.

"What's the matter with you? You could've been killed!" Shadow reprimanded him. Why couldn't the azure one be more careful?

"Thanks, Dad. I'll keep that in mind, next time." Sonic replied with a sneer.

As the four reunited, they turned to look at the robotic machine for answers as to what was going on. Just then, Tails pointed toward the head of the contraption. "Dr. Eggman!" He shouted.

Sure enough, Dr. Eggman could be from the head of the machine through a window. He was controlling the robot from the inside.

"Another one of his stupid machines?" Sonic whined.

"What's he up to, now?" Knuckles growled.

On the inside of the robot, the four could see Dr. Eggman bringing something that looked like a built-in microphone up to his mouth. "Hello, rodents." He greeted in a mockingly jolly tone. "How are you doing on this lovely day?"

"Cut the crap and tell us what you're doing here, Egghead? Here to _try_ to steal the chaos emerald from us, again?" Sonic laughed.

"Oh, Sonic, I'm touched. You know me oh so well. And here I thought we were sworn enemies."

"How did you find us, doctor?" Shadow spoke up.

"You can praise Sonic for that, Shadow. He deserves the honor for setting off the sensors that I planted back in the forest somewhere. And in setting the sensor off, we were led right to you." Eggman chuckled.

Shadow snapped over at Sonic, clearly angrier. "I **told **you to watch where you were _going_, Faker. See what happens?" Sonic looked at Shadow uneasily with his hands up in a defensive motion.

"Hey, hey! How was I supposed to see a sensor somewhere on this dirty ground?"

"You would have _seen_ it if you would have slowed down and listened to me. I said '**don't **rush out because there might be a trap'! Remember?"

"Oh, boys," Dr. Eggman cut in. "It really doesn't matter what happened a few minutes ago. All that matters is that I'm here, now. And I _will_ be leaving with the chaos emerald, whether you give it willingly or not."

Realization on what the doctor had previously said hit Knuckles, causing him to speak up. "Wait . . . what did ya' mean by 'we'?"

"Hehe! I'm glad you asked Knuckles." Eggman replied. He then put his hands up to his mouth and made a loud whistling noise.

"What's he doing?" Tails asked. He clutched the emerald a little tighter to his person, not knowing what would happen next.

Suddenly, a quick and somewhat powerful gust of wind picked up and circled the four boys. Sonic noticed that the wind held a tint of lime green to it, and went wide-eyed. "Oh, no." He mumbled.

"Ohh yeah, Blue. It's your lucky day." A green hedgehog appeared in front of Eggman's robotic machine. "Nice to see you all, Knucklehead, Tail-freak, and . . . the Emo-hog. _Really_ didn't expect to see you here." Scourge grinned slyly while baring his pointy fangs. Shadow glowered at the hedgehog and the pet name that was given to him.

"Don't tell me you're working for Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Woah, woah, woah! I don't work for _anyone_, Blue." The green hedgehog known as Scourge gestured back and forth between Eggman and himself. "Partners is more like it."

Eggman chimed in. "That's right. I asked Scourge to help me retrieve the chaos emeralds in exchange for my assistance in making him the richest hog on the face of the planet."

"Good luck with that, Scourge." Knuckles scoffed.

"Yeah, you picked the world's dumbest evil genius to help you with something that ain't gonna happen." Sonic chuckled.

Dr. Eggman's grin turned into an annoyed frown. "Well, I believe that's enough for introductions. We know each well enough, and I'm done with talking." Eggman controlled the robot to raise its arms, and he intended for the fists to smash into the four friends.

"Split!" Sonic yelled. And everyone dodged the attack.

"Scourge, let's make this quick." Eggman demanded through the speaker.

"Quick is my middle name, doc." The green one spoke. He took off toward Tails who had the blue chaos emerald in his clutch. "Sonic!" The young one yelled.

Scourge jumped to attack Tails, but Sonic collided with Scourge before he reached the emerald. Then, Sonic kicked Scourge roughly into a tree. The green one shook his head and dusted himself off before rising up. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that, Blue." Scourge warned and walked toward Sonic. Tails backed up to get himself away from the battle and to protect the emerald.

Scourge spin-dashed to attack Sonic, who barely dodged the attack. Scourge grabbed hold of a tree branch and swung him, self around it, propelling himself forward to charge at Sonic, once more. Before making contact, a blur of onyx crashed kicked him in the side of his stomach. Scourge hit the ground hard another time. He started to get up, again, and coughed in the process. "Ya' know, I'm getting tired of being pushed around by you bastards." Scourge managed to get out.

"Hmph. You should've thought about what you were walking into before attacking us." Shadow spoke.

On the other hand, Knuckles was looking around for Dr. Eggman. As soon as Scourge set off to attack Sonic, Eggman had disappeared in the background. Knuckles continued to look around rather frantically.

"Argh! Eggman, where'd you go" He called out.

Tails looked around to, trying to be careful to keep the emerald safe. He unconsciously took a few steps back, not knowing what was going to happen. What he didn't notice was that Eggman had crept up right behind him, and at this moment, he chose to jump out at Tails. "Aaaahhh!" Tails screamed and ran away from the robot. The robot was hot on his tails, gaining on the fox and the emerald. But, Knuckles got to the robot before it had gotten to Tails. He ran up behind the robot and punched it in the back of the leg causing it to lean forward a little. Then, he ran in front of it, jumped high in the air, and punched the robot with so much force in its torso that it staggered backwards, and it fell.

"Hey!" Eggman screamed. Knuckles smirked and flexed his fingers. "You obviously don't know who you're dealing with." He was clearly feeling cocky.

"Knuckles, we've gotta grab Sonic and Shadow and get out of here, before they steal the emerald from us."

"Right. Let's get 'em." He said. And they ran off in the direction that they saw the three hedgehogs go.

* * *

Meanwhile with the three hedgehogs, Shadow and Sonic had the upper hand. Scourge continued trying to attack each hedgehog on his own, but no matter which one he attacked, the other would come to the rescue. Scourge was running out of ideas and breath.

As he was in a hand-to-hand combat with Sonic, he failed to be mindful of Shadow's presence, once again.

"Chaos Spear," was the last word he heard before he was hit with a burst of chaos energy in the form of a spear. "Ah!" He exclaimed in a pain that became familiar to him since he started the battle with Shadow and Sonic. The chaos energy knocked him into a tree, once more. He slumped down into the dirt, and relaxed there to catch his breath.

"You two . . . *pant* . . . are a p-pain . . . pain in the ass." Scourge breathed out.

Shadow and Sonic walked over to the fallen enemy. Sonic placed his hands on his hips proudly and grinned. "It's what I'm good at." He stated with a wide grin.

"Tell me about it." Shadow rolled his eyes. Sonic narrowed his eyes at Shadow's snide remark. Footsteps from behind alerted the duo. Tails and Knuckles.

"Guys, c'mon! Let's ditch this place before Eggman recovers." Knuckles said.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sonic said to Shadow who nodded his head in approval. The four ran back in the direction that the plane had come from. Once they boarded, Tails started up the plane and they took off with the emerald out of the forest and into the sky. Again, Sonic and Shadow were riding on the wings of the plane while Tails flew and Knuckles relaxed inside.

"Great job, guys! We made it with the emerald!" Said Tails.

"Just barely, thanks to Faker." Shadow glanced over at Sonic and glanced away.

Sonic defended himself. "Hey! I said I was sorry for the booby trap incident. But, we made it out anyway. What do ya' want _me_ to do about it?"

"Stop being so damn reckless." The onyx one exclaimed.

"That's like telling the sky to stop being blue. Hehe!" Knuckles joked. "Not gonna happen." Tails snickered to himself at the truth in Knuckles' joke.

"Very funny, Chucklehead."

"I've warned you about the name calling, Sonic." Knuckles retorted.

"Yeah, yeah." Sonic sneered. Knuckles mumbled something under his breath about 'childishness' and 'obscenity'

Sonic looked back over at Shadow. His eyes open a little wider when he noticed Shadow staring at him rather intently. Sonic knew that Shadow _saw _him looking, but the onyx one still continued to stare. It wasn't a glare or a look of disparagement; Sonic couldn't quite read the look in Shadow's ruby-colored eyes, however the stare did still manage to faintly tint the color of Sonic's cheeks.

Sonic and Shadow had been past archrivals for a long time, now. Shadow still resisted using the label of 'friend' on anyone, but everyone that knew Shadow and how he operated didn't have to have him elaborate on his emotions. They could sometimes deduce how he was feeling. Those who held somewhat of a closer relationship with Shadow could almost read his 'nonexistent' emotions like an open book. Those people were none other than Rouge the bat and Sonic the hedgehog. Sonic often didn't need Shadow to tell him how he was feeling to _know_ how he was feeling.

But, this time was different. Occasionally, he would catch Shadow glancing his way for a prolonged period of time. But, he would brush it off as nothing more than the onyx one being 'weird'. Admittedly, Shadow wasn't exactly like the average bear. He wasn't the ray of sunshine in everyone's day, and he wasn't very talkative, either. That was part of the reason why Sonic refused to question Shadow about his strange actions. He knew he either wouldn't get an answer or he'd receive a sarcastic one. Though, he couldn't help but wonder what was going through Shadow's head.

After guessing that Shadow wouldn't look away unless he was ready, _and _wanting to relieve himself of the awkward situation he felt he was placed in, Sonic glanced away from Shadow. "W-well . . . at least we got one of the chaos emeralds, today. That's all that matters." Sonic assured, trying to hide his face's discoloration.

Tails glanced over at Sonic. "Sonic? Are you alright?" He asked.

Sonic grinned over at Tails, giving him a thumbs up. "Sure, bud. Why wouldn't I be?" Tails shrugged and kept flying.

"I can't wait to get home." Knuckles said. And the plane flew off into the direction of their home and to the others waiting there.


	2. Strange Feelings

**Author's Note:** So, I've decided I won't be putting up a disclaimer every single time I post a chapter. Maybe every once in a while when I feel like it. Also, I decided I should probably give you guys another chapter of _something_ before school starts back up for me, again.

. . . . . **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOoooo OOOOoooOOOooOOoooooooo!**

*Clears throat* . . . well, now that I've gotten that out, on with the chapter. And by the way, I wasn't saying that this was the only chapter of a story that I would be trying to update before school. Just trying to do as much as I can. Lol! Well, R&R&ENJOY!

* * *

"Guuuuyyyyys! We're hooooome!" Sonic yelled happily. The plane had finally reached the house, and Sonic couldn't have been happier to be off of the plane and out of the air. Ground was more of his forte.

Shadow covered his ears, annoyed. "Ugh! Faker, _must _you be so loud?!"

"Aww, lighten up, Debbie Downer." Sonic smacked Shadow on the back, and walked ahead in front of his onyx counterpart. Shadow stopped in his tracks and glared after Sonic. _'Faker must have a death wish.'_ He thought to himself. Before he could respond, as he would have liked, three girls emerged from the house.

"Sonic!" A pink hedgehog in a red and white dressed charged at the aforementioned.

"Hey, Ames. How's it—OOF!" The pink hedgehog, Amy, collided with the blue hedgehog, and they both hit the ground with Amy on top of Sonic. " . . . going?" Sonic finished.

"It's been so boring around here without you, Sonic! I've missed you. Take me with you, next time. Don't leave me here without you, please please please?" The girl begged and batted her eyelashes. Sonic blinked nervously and thought carefully about his answer. "Let me get back to you on that one, okay Ames?" He said uneasily. _'Good choice of words, Sonic. Good choice of words.'_ He patted himself on the back.

"Okay!" Amy replied, cheerily before raising herself off of the obvious object of her affections. The girl had fallen for Sonic ever since she'd first laid eyes on him, though his feelings were not exactly reciprocated. Sonic always thought of Amy more as a friend, and he often tended to keep her at arm's length. But, Amy never gave up hope and kept it in her mind that, one day, Sonic would open his eyes to see her for the beautiful woman that she was, more than compatible for him and capable of keeping up with him.

Sonic got up after the weight was lifted from his chest. _'Why am I spending so much time on the ground?'_ He shook his head. Looking up, he could see the other two females approaching the way.

"Welcome back, boys." A white bat named Rouge greeted them. "Did you guys make out alright?"

"Why don't you just ask for what you're really after, Batgirl? The chaos emerald, right?" Knuckles stepped forward.

Rouge feigned a gasp. "I'm shocked, Red. Do you _really_ think that I'm the superficial lady that you keep pegging me to be?"

"Something like that." Knuckles replied.

"Well! I'd never!"

"You would, and you have."

Rouge glared at Knuckles and shook her head before looking around at everyone. "Well?" She said. " . . . where is it? Where's the emerald? You do have it, right?"

Sonic pulled the emerald from a bag they held it in. "Did you doubt we'd bring it back?" He smirked, tossing it up and down.

"Guess I shouldn't have. My mistake." Rouge held out her hands, and Sonic tossed it to her. Rouge had an undeniable jewel fetish, and she had a few run-ins with the law on account of them. Though at a certain point in her life she decided to straighten up and fly right instead of steal gems and pilfer jewelry, her attraction still remained.

Catching the blue chaos emerald in her hands, Rouge marveled at the exquisite gem. "You sure are beautiful!" She said. "What could possibly be more gorgeous than you are?" And with that, she walked off into the house with the emerald.

"Hey, where do you think you're going with that emerald?" Knuckles followed after her into the house. "Batgirl, I know you hear me. Hey. Hey!"

Tails, Sonic, and Sally, the remaining female, laughed at Rouge and Knuckles. While Rouge had a thing for jewelry, it appeared that Knuckles had a hidden 'thing' for Rouge. He'd never admit it, though.

"So, how was the trip, Sonic?" Sally asked him.

"It was great, Sal. The plane ride was a little slow, and the 'snorefest' over there," he pointed over at a glowering black hedgehog, "was a little bit on the negative side. But, what else is new? Other than that, everything was awesome." He gave her his signature thumbs up. Sally beamed back at him and blushed a little, but Sonic didn't catch it. Luckily, Tails walked up. "What about you, Tails? How was everything?"

"The ride went perfectly, Sally. I'm just glad we ended up with the emerald." Tails grinned.

"Me too, Tails." Said Sally. Sally saw a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced over Tails. Shadow was there.

"Hey, Shadow." Sally walked up to Shadow and greeted him. She knew Shadow wasn't big on hugs and mushy greetings, but she hoped that he'd at least accept a handshake. So, she stuck her hand out at him. "How's it going?" She tried.

Shadow was a little slow in response, but to be polite, he accepted the girl's hand. "Not too bad, I guess."

"That's good." She said, happy that he had spoken back to her. You didn't get much out of Shadow unless you had some sort of bond with him. The bond that she held with Shadow was practically nonexistent. But, he had to have trusted her to some extent to even touch her, right?

Sally took a deep breath before saying, "Well, the girls and I made you guys lunch. I know you've got to be hungry by now."

"Oh, boy! I'm starving!" The young fox raced inside the house.

"D-did Amy cut my food into little hearts, again?" Sonic asked uneasily.

Sally laughed at the hedgehog's previous, embarrassing misfortune. "No, I told her she should save that for a special time, like your birthday or something."

"Har har." Sonic deadpanned her. Sally laughed again and Sonic smirked at being able to make her smile. All of a sudden before Sonic could make his way to the house for lunch, Sally jumped to give him a hug. "I'm glad you got back safely, Sonic." Sonic was a little surprised at the sudden friendly display of affection, but he brushed it off as just that: 'friendly'.

"Thanks, Sal. I'm glad, too." He smiled and returned the hug.

In the background, a certain onyx hedgehog had witnessed the entire play, not missing a scene. He noticed the way Sally seemed to pin her attention to Sonic, the way she blushed and laughed at nearly _everything_ he said, and the way she so openly displayed her affection for the blue hedgehog. Anyone could see that the girl felt something for the blue one. Anyone but Sonic, of course. Sonic seemed to think of everyone as his 'friend' so often, that he wouldn't delve into the possibility of anyone having deeper feelings for him.

Shadow began to walk toward the house. By that time, Sonic had let go of Sally, and Sally had done the same. They both began to walk into the house, with Sally being in the lead. However, something behind Sonic had reached out to trip him. He yelped and fell forward back into the grass for the umpteenth time that day. As Sally reached the door, she looked behind her upon hearing Sonic gasp, and she saw him in the grass. "Sonic, are you alright?"

Irritably, Sonic looked around for the source of his demise and saw nothing. But, once he looked up ahead of him, he saw Shadow walking in front of him and looking back at him with a hint of a smirk on his face. "Sorry, Faker. My foot must have slipped or something. My humblest apologies. I _swear_ it was an accident." Shadow feigned innocent and chuckled to himself on the inside.

'_That'll teach you to smack me.'_ Shadow remembered about earlier.

It registered to Sonic that Shadow tripped him on purpose. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at Shadow, got up, and walked toward the entrance of the house. "You two should be careful." Sally warned worriedly before walking into the house.

As Sonic approached the door, Shadow stood beside the entrance so that once his counterpart reached the door, he could open it. Just as Sonic had gotten to the door, Shadow opened it as he planned to, and gestured for Sonic to go in. Sonic stopped and glared at Shadow again, in a warning type of way. "After you. And let me remind you that we don't have all day to stand out here, misemono." Shadow smirked.

"Hmph!" Sonic turned and walked inside. And Shadow followed right after him.

* * *

The house was a little bigger than the average house; Amy and Sally had suggested the largely sized house to accommodate the number of the residents living together. Everyone was gathered around the kitchen table inside of the house, at the moment. While the boys were away, the girls figured that they would plan a tasty meal for everyone to share when the boys got back. There was a lot of delicious food filling the middle of the table, and everyone could hardly wait to eat.

"Hey, wait." Sonic raised his hand. "Where are the chilidogs?"

Shadow massaged his temple. "You mean those _disgusting _links of meat smothered in that cheap piquant sauce along with other condiments that could potentially trigger cardiac arrest?"

Sonic glared at the onyx hedgie. "I didn't want anyone to _describe_ them, Shadow. I wanted to know their location." He stuck his tongue out at Shadow before questioning, "Didn't you make any, Sal?"

Sally grinned at Sonic's innocent expression and got up from her seat to walk toward the microwave. "For you, Sonic? Of course!" She pulled out an oblong plate full of chilidogs from the microwave, and she walked to place them on the table. Shadow grimaced at Sonic's favorite dish and Sonic as well; Sonic merely stuck his tongue out at Shadow in retaliation before turning to Sally

"Thanks, Sally!" Sonic beamed brightly, before grabbing a chilidog for himself. His face clearly portrayed his contentment, and Sally couldn't help but blush slightly at the adorably pleased Sonic. Shadow glanced at Sonic before rolling his eyes. _'He's such a child.'_ He thought.

"Well, dig in everyone." Sally invited. Hands flew everywhere picking up pieces of food and pouring glasses of drinks. 'Being hungry' was the understatement of the century for the friends. Exploring for chaos emeralds and thwarting crime as much as they did was indeed enough to work up an appetite. But after about thirty minutes passed, the hands slowed down and the appetites were satisfied. Though Sonic was still working on his last chilidog.

"Sawwy, dis food was dewicious!" Sonic spoke to Sally while chewing on his chilidog. Sally giggled to herself at Sonic's behavior.

But, Shadow didn't find the act so very amusing. "Faker, that's repulsive. Why don't you swallow your food before you talk?" He spat.

"Why don't you blow me?" Sonic retorted after swallowing.

Rouge giggled at Sonic's comment, Knuckles put his face in his hand, Amy covered Tails' ears, and Shadow couldn't have seemed any more exasperated.

"Why don't I rip your mouth off?"

"Why don't you try and see what happens?" Sonic challenged. Shadow's glare turned into a dark smirk. "That's a _bold_ threat, Faker. You sure you would be able to hold your own against me?"

Sonic waved his hand back and forth at Shadow. "I'd run circles around you with my eyes closed, Shads. You wouldn't even know what hit you."

"I'll keep that in mind, Faker."

Tails gulped at the slight tension that was growing in the room because of the two hedgehogs. So in an attempt to get rid of it, he tried to change the subject.

"S-so, Sally . . . did you figure out where we'd be going next in search of the chaos emerald?"

"Not exactly, Tails. The radar hasn't picked anything up. I'm guessing that we'll have to do a little bit of searching with the chaos emeralds we've already found. Since one emerald seems capable of sensing the presence of the other, hence the glowing caused by their proximity, and since the emeralds having been sensing anything, I don't think the other emeralds are anywhere around, right now."

"Well, is there any idea on where we should look?" Knuckles spoke up.

"A few days ago on the news, the reporter was talking about the possibility of an irregular gem somewhere in the Great Deep Lagoon. I thought that we could send a few of us out there to search the area, and possibly even locate another chaos emerald."

As the conversation involving the chaos emeralds continued on, Sonic listened somewhat intently. He was just itching for another adventure and anxious to retrieve another emerald before Scourge or the doctor tried to do so. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy kicking butt during his adventures. Accomplishing the goal was just that much easier when trouble wasn't present. Sonic had to admit to himself that taking down Scourge and Dr. Eggman was pretty quick and easier, almost as if it was in record time.

'_Hehe! I suppose I have the 'Debbie Downer' to thank for that.'_ Sonic joked about Shadow. When he thought about it, Shadow _did_ seem to have Sonic's back throughout the battle. If he caught himself in trouble, Shadow was there to give him a hand out of it, and Sonic was thankful for that.

Sonic happened to glance across the table at Shadow, who sat right in front of him. His heart nearly stopped, an action strangely similar to earlier events. Shadow was staring at him, the same way as earlier. Sonic had only lately been catching Shadow eyeing him, and that was a little bit of why the blue hedgehog felt uneasy. Sonic averted his eyes in a pathetic attempt to be rid of the strange feeling welling up inside of him, but it didn't help matters. He knew that Shadow's eyes were still on him, whatever the reason was. And he confirmed his suspicions when he peered his eyes back across the table. Sonic glared over at the black hedgehog as his cheeks flared up; his entire face felt hot because he was embarrassed. And for what? The world's fastest, famous hedgehog should welcome attention with open arms, right? He practically _lived_ in the spotlight, right? So what made Shadow so different? Sonic didn't know, but he _did_ know that he wanted Shadow's 'shenanigans' to end, then and there.

"Stop staring at me." He whispered across the table to Shadow. But, Shadow ignored Sonic.

Shadow's ruby eyes never dropped their gaze, but wandered all over Sonic's face. It was almost as if the onyx was mesmerized by something.

"Are you listening?" Sonic persisted as his cheeks turned redder. "Stop _staring_ at me, Shadow."

Hearing his own name broke him out of his trance, causing him to stare a little more intently into emerald orbs. "Why should I?" He challenged, quietly.

' _. . . the hell?'_ Sonic thought. "Because I _said_ so, that's why." He began to speak a little louder.

Shadow gazed at Sonic a little longer before smirking, a sly gleam appearing in his reddish eyes. His tongue played with the inside of his cheek a little before replying. "That's not a good enough answer, misemono." The pet name seemed to roll from his tongue in such a suave manner that it annoyed Sonic.

"Well . . . why are you looking at me, anyways?" Sonic demanded. If Shadow wasn't intending on stopping, he at least deserved an explanation for his actions, right?

"That's none of your business." Wrong. Shadow's smirk became a little wider.

"Stop it, then."

"No." Shadow answered, plainly.

"I mean it, Shadow!"

"No."

By this time, everyone's attention was drawn to a devious-looking onyx hedgehog, who was reclined in his chair with his arms crossed, and a flustered-looking azure hedgehog, who looked like he was agitated and almost ready to harm his counterpart.

"**Stop** staring at me!" Sonic demanded once again, rising out of his seat and hovering over the table ready to charge over it at Shadow.

"Make me." Shadow challenged. The argument turned into a glaring match between the two hedgehogs. Sonic didn't notice that his friends had stopped conversing with each other to listen in on their argument. He also hadn't noticed when Knuckles had gotten up from the table and went into the refrigerator behind him for some ice for his drink.

Meanwhile, as Sonic was glowering at Shadow, he was thinking of a quick way to shut him up and divert his attention away from him, thus killing two birds with one stone. Suddenly, it hit him. As he looked down to the table, the color of his cheeks had returned to normal, and his glaring became a smirk as he reached to pick up a plate in front of him. Shadow, however, dropped his smirk immediately and became a little wary of Sonic.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a sort of uneasy tone, a tone that caused Sonic to smirk all the more. Sonic picked up a plate of an unfinished chilidog, a few fries with some ketchup, and half a slice of the cake that Sally had brought out for dessert. Once the plate was completely in his hand, he looked up at Shadow with a triumphant grin. Shadow rose out of his chair and took a step back.

"Faker, I promise you. I will not be responsible for my actions if you do anything other than set that plate back on the table, now."

Sonic shrugged, nonchalantly. "You told me to 'make you stop', 'member? I'm just doing what I gotta do, that's all."

The rest of the friends looked on at Sonic, anticipating when the plate would be thrown. Because many of them knew Sonic and what he was capable of, they knew that the plate would go flying somewhere.

"I'm warning you, Faker." Shadow stated. "Put the plate down."

"Make me." He coolly imitated before the plate and all of its contents went flying into the air. Everyone watched the food soar all the way to its target, colliding with perfect aim at Shadow, until it met its mark. Everyone, but Sonic and Knuckles, jumped a little when Shadow was struck. They were practically waiting on the edge of their seats for Shadow to blow Sonic up. Knuckles merely turned around from the fridge for a second to see what was going on. He shook his head at Sonic before turning back to the refrigerator to look for his drink. _'This isn't gonna end well.'_ He thought to himself.

Sonic simply stood with his hands on his hips and a victorious smile on his face. He couldn't have been prouder about what he did, and he was happy to show it. "Whoops! Sorry, Shads. My arms must've spazzed and made me throw that plate. I _swear_ it was an accident." He grazed his hand over his chest and feigned innocence.

Shadow glared murderously at Sonic as the remnants of the food slid down his face and body. He was covered in ketchup, cake, and chilidog sauce, and everything else Sonic had eaten. It took everything he had to quell the impulse he had to kill the azure hedgie on the spot, and he mentally applauded himself for doing so. He took a huge deep breath and closed his eyes before thinking carefully about his next move.

"Shadow," Tails stuttered. "A-are you okay?"

Suddenly, Shadow's eyes popped open with an underhanded gleam in his eyes.

"I'm perfectly fine, fox. Perfectly fine." And with that, he reached to pick a plate from the table. "But, you know," He started as he chose a rather large piece of the cake with red icing on the side. "I think the red color of this icing really goes with that blue fur of yours, Faker. Don't you think so?" He glanced at Sonic, who took on a nervous expression. He knew where this was going.

"Sh-shadow . . . what are you doing?" Sonic put his hands up in defense.

"I think the red color of this icing meshes perfectly with that blue fur of yours, Faker. Don't you think so?" Shadow taunted as he advanced slowly around the table toward Sonic.

"Shads, you don't want to do this!" Sonic backed up.

"In fact, I think you should try it on." That was all that Shadow said before gunning the large piece of cake in Sonic's direction. But, the cake didn't land on Sonic, where Shadow intended.

It landed on Knuckles.

Sonic turned around to see where the cake had hit, and he tensed up a little.

Knuckles instantly felt the sugary substance collide with his back upon impact. He slowly backed up from the refrigerator while closing it, and he turned around with a tight-lipped, angered expression on his face. "Who . . . threw . . . that damned cake?" He demanded. Everyone turned to look at Shadow, including Knuckles.

"What? It's not like I did it on purpose. I was trying to hit Faker."

"Uh-huh. Sure you were." Knuckles strode over to the table, slowly.

"Honestly, red one, I didn't mean for the cake to hit you. It was an accident." Shadow began to move away from the echidna, who was clearly plotting revenge.

But, Knuckles wasted no time picking up a plate of ammunition. "You mean like **this**?" He chucked his plate in aim for Shadow, but once again, the wrong person became the victim, and that victim became the predator. Pretty soon, an all out food fight had commenced amongst the friends. Even Rouge was involved. The kitchen floor and appliances were completely redecorated. Almost anything in the line of sight was hit, and the mess only got bigger and bigger as the fight continued on. The friends were flinging everything at anyone, letting loose the stress that came with being heroes, chasing emeralds, and defeating villains all the time. Though, Shadow the hedgehog was simply repaying Sonic for what he started in the first place.

When he picked up another piece of cake from the table, he looked around for the azure hedgehog ready to attack with full force. Before he could find his target, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was, but was instantly introduced to a piece of cake to the face, instead. He growled deeply and wiped the cake from his eyes to view his attacker. But, the sound of a familiar laughing voice reached his ears, allowing him to know immediately who the culprit was. Sonic took a few steps back before grabbing his knees in uncontainable laughter. He pointed at Shadow and said, "You . . . you should've seen your face!" He said before bursting with laughter again.

That was enough for Shadow. He had taken all that he could take from his counterpart, for that day.

All rational thoughts aside, Shadow threw the plate of cake to the ground and stalked toward Sonic with all intents and purposes of causing him pain. He decided he would make Sonic pay for the trouble he had caused him, hero or not. Sonic saw Shadow and immediately began to back peddle.

"Listen. I've had just about enough of—HEY!" Someone ended up knocking backwards into Shadow, causing him to fall forward and bring Sonic down in the process.

***THUD***

Both hedgehogs hit the floor. Shadow shook his head before turning around to glare at who knocked him to the ground.

"Oh. He-he! Sorry." Knuckles said before turning back to engage in the war.

"Stupid-headed, big, red, dumb . . ." Shadow mumbled under his breath before turning to see if the 'Faker' was alright. But, this time, the onyx turned to see emerald eyes gazing up at _him_ and an all too familiar pink hue appearing on a blue face.

Oddly enough, Shadow found his face heating up ever so slightly. Being the quick thinker that he was, he immediately recognized the arrangement that he and his counterpart were in. It hadn't affected him as much earlier on that day because he had thought nothing of it. Though, it was difficult for him not to overthink when his look-alike was staring up at him in such a dazed manner. It was almost as if Sonic was entranced. But, by what?

Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the cockiest, egotistical beings that Shadow had ever met. If Sonic wasn't boasting about himself aloud with his mouth, he was showing off with his actions. The azure one's ego was overbearing, at best. So, for Shadow to see Sonic acting weird and somewhat hesitant was a little unnerving for Shadow.

Especially when he noticed the fastest thing alive analyzing him up and down in such a . . . bizarre manner.

"What's the matter with you?" Shadow broke the silence, raising an eyebrow at the blue one's behavior. This broke Sonic out of his daze and brought emerald eyes up to meet ruby ones before the emeralds nervously averted.

"I-uh . . . what do you mean?" Sonic continued to play innocent. He cursed himself for being caught in the middle of his actions.

"Why are you acting so strangely?" Shadow tried, again.

"I'm n-not . . . eh, I don't what you're talking abou—"

"For the love of Chao, Faker. Just answer the question." Onyx leaned ever so closely to azure.

Sonic felt panicked and trapped, mentally and physically. He was currently caught on the floor not only by the weight and arms of Shadow, but also under his gaze, as well. Shadow stared Sonic in the eyes so intently. It almost looked as if Shadow was hoping for a certain answer from Sonic. But, Sonic couldn't tell. All the blue hedgehog knew was that he was stuck under his archrival, and seemingly wouldn't be moving from his position until his detainer received answers that the blue one wasn't really ready to give. _'Chaos. Shadow . . . he looks so . . .' _ Sonic hadn't finished his thought before Shadow waved a hand in front of his face.

"Hello. Are you still there?" Shadow lightly tapped Sonic's temple to regain his attention from wherever else it was drawn. Sonic glared a little at Shadow's actions before his eyes widened. _'Wait. I can't think this way. A-and I can't be under him like this. What if my friends think that . . . my friends!'_ Sonic was reminded before looking around out of his immediate line of sight to see everyone standing around Shadow and him. Sally seemed to be especially confused as to why the hedgehogs were in the position that they were.

Shadow noticed the hero's somewhat flushed face become even more so at whatever was behind him. Wondering what was so important, he turned around and saw everyone's attention on him and his counterpart. Being too wound up with each other, neither had noticed the sudden silence.

"Um . . . are you two okay?" Tails asked them. Sonic's face couldn't have turned any redder.

Luckily for him, Shadow answered after clearing his throat. "We're fine. Faker, here, just needed some straightening out." He stated while getting up and brushing himself off. Sonic glared at Shadow before picking himself up. "Didn't you, Faker?"

"Leave me alone, Shadow." Sonic warned before brushing past the aforementioned in order to make it to the stairs. But before reaching the stairway, he slipped on a piece of cake and tumbled face first to the floor.

Gasps and small snickers were heard behind him, along with a voice he was becoming attuned to hearing.

"What's the matter, Faker? Did banging your head earlier injure what's left of your brain that badly too keep you from walking?" He taunted Sonic.

Knuckles and Rouge broke out into laughter. Amy reprimanded Shadow for his back lashing, and Sally's eyes stayed on Sonic, hoping he was alright.

Sonic silently delivered a death glare to the Ultimate Life Form before getting back up and retreating quickly upstairs to clean up.

Shadow shrugged. "Ah! Typical Faker." He said aloud, chuckling to himself while recalling the azure's recent show. Though he couldn't help remembering the events that happened a few minutes before. _'But, why was he eyeing me like that?'_ He thought. _'It was almost as if he . . .'_ Shadow stopped mid-thought before shaking his head. _'No, not Faker.'_ He chuckled to himself at his ludicrous thought, and he walked to begin cleaning up the mess that was made. Everyone pitched in to help clean the chaos that had exploded in the kitchen.

About twenty minutes had passed since everyone had started tidying things up, and Sally noticed that Sonic still hadn't reappeared from when he vanished upstairs. "Where did Sonic go?" She asked everyone.

"He probably disappeared to get out of cleaning. Definitely something he'd do." Knuckles suggested.

"I hope he isn't hurt or anything." Amy worried. "Maybe I should go and check on him." And she began to walk over to the steps.

"Eh, Amy? I think I'll go and check on Sonic. I-I had to talk to him about something anyways." Tails volunteered.

"Well, okay, I guess." The pink one complied.

And Tails disappeared upstairs with both Sally and Shadow watching him go, wondering about if Sonic was alright.

* * *

Upstairs, Sonic was lying halfway on his bed in the room that he shared with Tails. He just laid there, with his arms behind his head, thinking to himself. He knew that it had been a while since he'd showered and gotten into the room, and he knew that he probably should've went back downstairs to help with the mess. But, he was in such a confused state at the moment.

When he first met Shadow, the black hedgehog had been anything _but_ friendly to Sonic. It took forever for the onyx creature to trust Sonic, and even then, he still kept the azure one at arm's length. But, throughout the hell that Shadow had put Sonic through, Sonic was still grateful that Shadow gave him a chance to be more than just a rival, and even a friend. And over time, Shadow grew to enjoy Sonic's company more and more. They became something like best friends, as strange as their relationship was. However, Sonic found himself beginning to have uncanny feelings toward the Ultimate Life Form a little while ago. He could still remember when and where it first began.

.

**FLASHBACK**

"I said _no_, Faker. I do not want to eat that."

"Aw, c'mon, Shads. Lighten up and try it!" Sonic rolled his eyes. The two speed demons were at an ice cream cart by the beach where Sonic was trying to force a chocolate-vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles down Shadow's throat. Growing restless from sitting in the house earlier on, the blue hedgehog decided to go out and 'do something', and he insisted on dragging his onyx twin along for the ride.

"Hedgehog, that looks so unhealthy. I'm telling you, I'm not eating it."

"You're such a baby, Shadow. Live a little. I swear it won't kill you. Scouts honor!" Sonic said in a somewhat convincing tone.

'_Not that I've ever been a scout or anything.'_ He thought, chuckling to himself.

Shadow looked Sonic in the eyes before glancing at the cone, seemingly unsure on whether or not to take the azure one's words. He grimaced slightly, not really sold on the idea of shoving such a cold and unusual item in his mouth. But, he reluctantly took the dripping cone from Sonic's hand. He glanced back at a smiling Sonic once more before flicking a small part of his tongue out at the cone and tasting it. He started out with small slight licks and gradually ate more and more.

Sonic looked pleased. "Good, right?"

"Whatever, Faker."

Rolling his eyes again, Sonic glanced up ahead of him from his ice cream cone. "Look, Shadow!" He pointed.

"What is it now, Faker? Another one of those revolting chili dog carts?"

Sonic gave Shadow a deadpanned expression. "No, Shads. Just c'mon and I'll show you!" He grabbed Shadow's free hand in his, and he began to drag Shadow down toward the beach.

"Faker, I am _not _in the mood to walk all over this wet sandtrap. Let go of me."

Sonic continued to trot with his hand in Shadow's toward the boardwalk on the beach.

"I said release me, Faker!" Shadow exasperatedly demanded.

"Calm down, Shads! Would'ja just look?" Sonic pointed ahead of him, once again. Before narrowing his eyes at Sonic, Shadow's line of vision followed where Sonic's hand was pointed.

Sonic had led them to the edge of a dock on the boardwalk. What Shadow gazed at was heart-warming, even he had to admit. The sky was colored in different dark and light shades of red, orange, and yellow as the sun was in the process of setting. The waters looked so calming and peaceful under the sun, and the birds flew off in the big, hot star's direction as it sunk from the sky, leaving its colorful reflection to blaze across it. Shadow couldn't help but stare in awe at the amazing view in front of him.

"Wow. This is . . ." Shadow couldn't take his eyes away. It was as if the sight was hypnotizing him into a tranquil state of mind that he didn't want to leave.

"Cool, right?" Sonic asked, awaiting Shadow's answer and the praise that he just knew would soon follow. He heard no response. "Shadow?" Sonic glanced over at the onyx and began to marvel at what he saw.

As the sun continued to set, its rays appeared to be attracted to Shadow at all of the perfect angles. Looking at the onyx, Shadow seemed to have a glowing halo around his entire body. What attracted Sonic's attention the most was the way the setting light complimented his twin's fiery, ruby orbs. The rays revealed a multitude of different beautiful shades of red within Shadow's eyes. It was as if the Ultimate Life Form's eyes were rubies themselves. And Sonic couldn't help but admire them. In fact, he admired them so much that he was completely oblivious to when Shadow tried to compliment and thank Sonic for the little 'trip' that he was forced into.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

"Huh?" Sonic shook his head, lightly.

Shadow gazed at Sonic, wearily. "Were you even listening to me, Faker?"

Sonic blushed a bright shade of pink. "Wh-what? Eh, what are you talking about, Shads?"

Shadow looked Sonic over for a bit before smirking. "C'mon, Faker. It's time to go home. I think that ice cream cone has made you crazy." Onyx suggested before grabbing Sonic's arm and walking off toward their residence.

"H-has not!" Sonic argued before being dragged after Shadow back to the house.

**FLASHBACK END**

.

Still lying on the bed, Sonic shook his head at the memories and sighed.

'_What's wrong with me?'_ He thought to himself.

***KNOCK*KNOCK*KNOCK***

He popped up into a sitting position when he heard the knock on the door. "Who is it?" His voice cracked a little.

"It's me, Tails."

"Oh! Come in, little bud." Sonic felt relieved. He didn't know what he would have done had it been a certain black hedgehog.

Tails entered the room and shut it behind him, slowly. "Is everything okay, Sonic?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Sonic raised a brow.

"Well, for one, it's been almost a half hour, and you haven't come back downstairs yet."

Sonic was tightlipped at Tails' response. _'Observant little bugger, isn't he?'_ He thought to himself.

"Eh, I'm sorry about that. I must've just, ah . . . lost track of time! He-he!" He lied and chuckled nervously. But, the fact that the look of suspicion on the fox's face proved to Sonic that Tails wasn't buying it.

"Uh-huh." Tails responded. "Well, you've been acting a little weird lately, so I just wanted to make sure everything was on the up and up."

"Don't worry your little head over nothing, bud. Everything is a-ok!" Sonic gave a fake toothy grin to Tails and his trademark thumbs up, hoping his cheerful disposition would move Tails to believe him. Though he still wasn't sure that Tails was going for it.

" . . . if you say so, Sonic." Tails turned around to leave, suspicion still dancing in his eyes. As he touched the doorknob, he decided at the last second to play a trick on Sonic to affirm his suspicions about Sonic's odd behavior.

"By the by, Sonic, I talked it over with the others, and we feel that with the chaos emeralds being distantly spread across the map, splitting into groups of two would be a more efficient way to commence the search. You know, if we want to find the emeralds before the doctor, anyways."

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Mm, that would make more sense. No objections there." He shrugged.

"I knew you'd think so." Tails began to smirk slightly. "So, you'd probably also be happy to know that since you and Shadow are _obviously_ the fastest hedgehogs around," He began. Before Tails could even finish his statement, Sonic's face dropped at the aforementioned name. "And since you two seem to work as a great team, we would put you two together."

Sonic froze. Him and Shadow? _Shadow?_

"Uh, Tails," He began to scratch the back of his quills. "Eh . . . I-I don't think it would be a very good idea w-working together. Shadow and me. Maybe I should just work with—"

"Aha!" Tails pointed.

Sonic jumped, curious and confused. " . . . what?" He asked the twin-tailed fox.

"Whatever is wrong with you has something to do with Shadow, doesn't it?"

Sonic's eyes darted all around the room, everywhere but making eye contact with Tails. "What . . . what makes you say that?"

"I've been noticing that every so often when you're around him, having something to do with him, or talking about him, you act sorta funny." Tails pointed out.

"I don't act—" Sonic stopped as soon as he saw Tails narrow his eyes, again. He sighed and face palmed before flopping backwards back onto the bed.

"Sonic . . . what's really going on?"

"I don't know, Tails. I just . . . don't know."

Tails took a breath before placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Well, whatever it is, Sonic, I do hope you feel better and that everything works out. And if you need someone to talk to, you know you've always got me." Tails assured with a sincere smile.

Sonic smiled back. "Thanks, little buddy."

"Anytime, Sonic." The fox then walked from the room, shutting the door behind him.

Sonic took a deep breath before mumbling to himself. "I hope everything works out, too."


End file.
